Asaba Massacre; Genocide or mere Victims of the War?
The worst civilian atrocity to happen in Nigeria to date.
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The most infuriating thing about this heinous crime committed against the Igbos and the people of Asaba isn't about the fact that it happened but that the Nigerian government and many Nigerians have failed to recognize that it ever happened.
To many people the victims of the Asaba massacre were just victims of the war, after all 'we were fighting a war
But before I go deeper into whether they were mere victims of the war or not,
I would like to define Genocide.
Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group to destroy that nation or group.
According to the European environment agency
A war victim or victim of war is
A person that suffers from the destructive action undertaken as a result of an armed conflict between two or more parties, particularly death, injury, hardship, loss of property or dislocation.
Now let's talk about the Asaba massacre,
Three months after the Nigerian Biafran civil war was declared, the Biafran troops on the 5th of October, 1966, took over Benin city and Ore but they met resistance when Col. Murtala Muhammed the leader of the Nigerian Second Division showed up, this forced the Biafrans troops back to the Onitsha and to prevent the federal military troops from crossing the Niger bridge they bombed the bridge, leaving the Nigerian troops at the other side of the Niger very close to the city of Asaba.
The frustrated Nigerian troops entered Asaba an Igbo-speaking part of the present-day Delta state and started ransacking houses and killing civilians.
On October 7th, the Nigerian military troop summoned the indigenes of Asaba and in a bid to end the violence, the people of Asaba came out in hundreds of men and women alike in their ceremonial Akwa ocha (white attire) dancing and chanting 'One Nigeria'.
But to their greatest surprise, the men were separated from the women and young children at the open square at Ogbe-Osowa village and the command of Second-in-Command Maj. Ibrahim Taiwo, the Nigerian troops opened fire, it was estimated that over 700 men and boys were killed, some as young as 12 years old.
In addition to many more who were killed in the preceding days, countless women were raped by the Nigerian troops.
Did the Nigerian troop have to kill them?
In my own opinion? The answer is No!
I believe the Nigerian troop could have gone back to where they came from or continued in their pursuit of the Biafran troop but they cowardly chose to come for innocent and unarmed people, and almost 60 years later the Nigerian government has failed to recognize their murder.
This incident may have happened over 50 years ago, but reparations need to be made, the families of those killed or affected are still alive, and they deserve an apology from the Nigerian government.
What's your opinion on this?
Drop them in the comment below!
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Nawa o